Donations for the Forest Cafe's campaign to buy its building now stand at more than £10,000. There's a long way to go to reach the £500,000 target to buy 3 Bristo Place, but the Forest's community of volunteers seem determined.

The iconic arts and music space will host more than 20 artists and musicians for the Blender Redux weekender, taking over both floors of the building they hope to one day own.

Being a Forest event, it is completely free and open to all. The cafe has obtained a license for the three days, with beer and wine available for purchase at the bar. Donations to the Buy the Forest/Save the Forest campaign will be welcomed.

Oi Polloi are among the bands playing Forest this weekend guardian.co.uk

To help categorise the diversity of local talent on offer, each night is planned to represent a different musical and performance theme.

Catalina Iordache, an events co-ordinator at the Forest, has been working hard to ensure Blender offers something for everyone over the course of the weekend. She said:

"There will be a wide range of live bands to choose from - ranging from Gaelic anarcho-punk to 8-bit Gameboy sounds, and from sweat-soaked barroom blues to a choir.

"The fundraising campaign has been intense and multi-faceted, but with a continued focus on providing a quality venue to nurture Edinburgh's creative talents across the spectrum of visual, performed and written arts.

"As always, we're raising funds the old fashioned Forest way: through great music, alternative art, originality and good fun."

Line-up

Friday will be a punk-based evening with a distinct Scottish infusion featuring Oi Polloi and Billy Liar, a Psych Ceilidh upstairs, along with the the Jazz Doctors Orchestra.

The highlight of Saturday is expected to be an all-day art auction showcasing local Edinburgh talent, with all proceeds going to the fundraising campaign. In the evening, the party will reach its pinnacle with a closing ceremony of indie-folk and a line-up of Edinburgh DJs.

There were hopes the event could have a 3am licence, but it was only granted for 1am each night. Ryan Van Winkle, an editor with Forest Publications, encouraged people to get along to Forest early each day to make sure they didn't miss anything.

He said:

"The fundraiser will go-ahead, it just might end sooner than we like. So, people should come early.

"We're excited about it, we think it will be awesome and a fun way to raise money and awareness of our campaign to wide demographic of locals."